CFTC’s Chilton Sees Silver Probe Concluding This Y

CFTC’s Chilton Sees Silver Probe Concluding This Year

Silla Brush, reporting for Bloomberg writes: “A four-year probe of potential price manipulation in the silver market may be completed as early as September, according to Bart Chilton, a member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“I am hopeful and expect the silver investigation to conclude in the not-too-distant future, hopefully in September or October,” Chilton, a 52-year-old Democrat, said in an e-mail. “It has already taken way too long.”

The enforcement division of the Washington-based agency, the main U.S. overseer of derivatives markets, began pursuing allegations of manipulation in the silver market in September 2008. Investigators have analyzed more than 100,000 documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses, the CFTC said in a November 2011 statement.

Chilton, who didn’t say whether the probe has uncovered evidence of manipulation, said previously that there had been“repeated attempts” to influence prices.

“There have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and deviously control that price,” he said at an October 2010 hearing in Washington. “Any such violation of the law in this regard should be prosecuted.”

Steve Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the status of the investigation sent outside of regular business hours. ..." – The story continues at the link below.